by Lola Kidd
“Sure,” Cross said, grabbing her hand and leading her away from the cabin. “I know I don’t want to see another fae for a long time.”
They hurried to leave the valley before Periwinkle could change her mind.
Five
When they got home, the only thing Rory wanted to do was sleep. Cross left her alone for once and let her have the day to rest. She was tired, but mostly she just stared at the ceiling when she was finally alone. Going to get the spell from Periwinkle had been easy and things between her and Cross even easier, but now that they were at the house she felt very awkward. Cross was still relaxed as ever and it was a little infuriating. He was a-ok, 100% fine with this whole thing, but he would be singing a different tune once their parents got there.
It was juvenile, but she didn’t even care, she had no idea how to get herself out of this mess. The Sun Riders, vampires, and Lost Tribe were actually pretty easy to take care of…as long as she stayed hidden anyway. They would get bored with trying to find her eventually, especially if they couldn’t do any damage to the coven to smoke her out. Thanks to Elena’s final casting in the human realm, she could stay hidden for a very long time before the vampires managed to harness powerful enough magic to break Elena’s protection charm.
Now that she had slept with Cross though, as mind-blowingly awesome as it was, she was in even deeper. The anxiety she felt was all her own overthinking. If she let herself relax into the claiming, she would have had a nice day. She and Cross could have gone for a walk, went to the store for dinner, cooked together, and had more great sex. Then when their parents got there, they could explain that they were a couple now and that would be that. Maybe there would be a ritual with the coven and the werewolves to wed the pair and it would all be done. Rory could see it clearly in her mind. It would be so very easy to let it all happen.
So why didn’t she? That was the million dollar question really. Now that the claiming was complete, she was having a harder time justifying not being with Cross. Yes, supernatural creatures didn’t mix, but why not? Yes, werewolves killed witches for sport but not Cross. He had never done that. She fell asleep while she was trying to come up with reasons to stay away from her “mate” and when she woke back up it was already sundown again. She had lost almost an entire day! She got up to find Cross so they could go get something for dinner.
Downstairs she was greeted by a very welcome sight.
“Mom!” She hadn’t been that happy to see Magda in years. She certainly hadn’t run to hug her with such happiness in over ten years.
“I’m glad to see you too, honey,” Magda said, hugging her back.
“Jamie!” Rory hugged the newest head witch of the Cleary coven. “I can’t believe you came too!”
“It’s you they’re after,” Jamie explained. “Now that you’re gone, things are completely quiet in Cleary. The girls could spare me for a day or two.”
“I’m so happy to see you guys,” Rory said, beginning to cry.
“Has that wolf been treating you right?” Magda asked, alarmed. Rory NEVER cried. Like all women in the Silver family, she prided herself on her ability to keep it together in tough times.
“I’m ok,” Rory lied. She didn’t want to blurt out that she had inadvertently accepted Cross’s claim while she was emotional. Once she stopped the waterworks, she would tell them both. “Why didn’t you wake me up when you guys got here?”
“Well, we’ve only been here for two hours,” Magda said, taking Rory’s hand. “Cross said you were exhausted and was pretty insistent we let you sleep.”
“The wolf did win me over a bit with that. He is very protective of you,” Jamie confessed. “The Moon Brothers weren’t lying when they said he was the best choice to keep you safe.”
“I will have to thank him for his help,” Magda said grudgingly. “He didn’t want to leave before you had woken up, but Grizzly was pretty insistent they go out to get food and talk.”
“I was wondering where they were.”
“They’ll be back soon with groceries,” Jamie said. “But I want to hear about what you two have been up to first.”
Rory told her mother and Jamie about finding Beatrice in Sand Springs and the ghost’s sad story.
“I can’t believe I had never heard that story before!” Magda said, shocked. “We’ll have to add it to the family book after all this is over.”
“I think she would really appreciate that,” Rory agreed. “In fact, she might even turn up once she knows she’ll get to be the center of attention.”
“Now you were saying about this spell,” Jamie prompted her to continue her story.
Rory told them about Periwinkle and how easy it was to get her to give them the spell.
“I know we can’t use it,” Rory concluded. “I’m still glad I got it though. It’s incredibly beautiful.”
“So it’s a partner spell,” Jamie said thoughtfully. “Those are very rare. Usually, they’re done by a wizard and a witch to draw on the male and female elements. This one is very curious. Can I see it?”
“Sure, it’s in my room.” Rory went upstairs to retrieve the spell. When she came back down, Magda and Jamie were whispering furiously at each other. As soon as they heard Rory on the stairs, Magda gave Jamie a murderous look.
“What’s going on?” Rory asked. She had been suspicious of Jamie’s motivation for coming along too. Magda was the unofficial number two in the coven. There had to be a compelling reason for Jamie to tag along too and leave the coven without their most powerful two witches.
“I think there’s something you need to know,” Jamie told her.
“You shut up!” Magda said, glaring at Jamie. “You shouldn’t butt in where you aren’t welcome. This is a family matter.”
“We are family now,” Jamie reminded Magda. “Rory is a sister now and this is important. I think she might want to know. She’s an adult now. There’s no point in keeping this secret any longer.”
“What secret?!” Rory asked. This wasn’t what she needed at all. She already had her fill of secrets for the week.
Magda sighed. “Come sit down, dear. I can see Jamie will tell you if I don’t.”
***
Cross hadn’t wanted to leave Rory, but Grizzly wasn’t taking no for an answer. He reluctantly got on his bike to follow Grizzly and Grimace into town. When they were just out of the line of sight of the cabin, Grizzly and Grimace pulled over to the side of the road. Cross stopped too and pulled off his helmet. Before he could ask why they had stopped, Grizzly nodded at Grim and Grim pushed Cross hard enough to knock him off his feet.
“Did you think I couldn’t smell it on you?” Grizzly asked.
Cross tried to get up, but Grimace put his foot on Cross’s chest.
“I think you need to spend a little time down there thinking,” Grizzly told him. “I send you up here to keep you safe from whatever it is in town and it was working. The spells those witches cast would have kept you two hidden for the rest of the year.”
Cross looked at his father dumbfounded. “If you wanted me to sit up here twiddling my thumbs, you should have told me. I thought we were in this together trying to solve the problem.”
“I didn’t need you running off to get yourself killed in a blaze of glory. Even worse you were taking Ozzy with you! That boy is like your brother and you were going to get both of you killed.”
“I’m sorry,” Cross said. He was having a hard time staying on the ground. He could have easily over powered Grim and gotten up if he wanted to, but he knew his Dad was trying to make a point.
“Are you sorry about the way you acted in town or for claiming the witch?”
Cross didn’t say anything.
“What I want to know is, how the hell did you do it? Wolves can only claim other wolves or humans. Is the girl not a real witch?”
“You saw what she can do and I know damn well you can see all the magic she has. Of course she’s a witch. And I have no fucking idea how I did it.”
Grizzly narrowed his eyes. “For the love of God, tell me you didn’t complete the claim.”
Cross chose to stay silent again, but that was enough to tell Grizzly he claimed Rory completely.
“Shit. We’re going home right now. If we go back to that cabin, those witches are going to kill you. Good thing Charlie started looking for a new town already.”
“No!” Cross pushed against Grim’s foot knocking the bigger man down. “I’m not leaving her! Are you out of your fucking mind?! She’s my mate.”
“I know you think she is, son,” Grizzly said gently. “But she can’t be. Wolves belong with other wolves and humans. Supernatural creatures stick to their own kind, or humans in a pinch, for a very good reason. There is no way her coven will let you near her anymore.”
“It isn’t up to them or you or the rest of the brothers. The only people who have a say in the matter are me and Rory.”
“That’s not how it works and you know it. I’m the alpha of the Moon Brothers and unless you plan on fighting me for that title, you do as I say.”
Cross stood taller and squared his shoulders. “Or I pick the third option.”
Grizzly smiled like he was humoring a young child. “And what would the third option be?”
“I leave the Moon Brothers pack.”
That wiped the smile off Grizzly’s face fast. His eyes turned yellow and his teeth started to elongate. “And why would you do something as fucking stupid as that?”
“Lemme think, my mate or my pack? I only get one mate. I can find a new pack. Not that hard a choice.”
Grimace growled and looked between Grizzly and Cross. “You can’t be serious, brother?!”
Cross nodded once and Grimace looked at Grizzly.
“You need to think hard and long about what you’re thinking about doing. It won’t be an easy thing to find a new pack once you’re banished, especially not with a witch in tow.”
“I know.”
“And you have to know that the witches will do everything in their power to break your claim once they know. The odds are you're going to end up with no pack and no mate. And I won’t let you come crawling back to the Moon Brothers after that happens.”
“He’s your son!” Grimace said. “We can’t let him do this.”
“You can’t stop me,” Cross said. “And neither can the coven. They may try to break my claim, but they won’t be able to. It's already done, there is no going back.”
“Have you asked the witch what she wants,” Grizzly asked. “I’m going to take your silence here to mean no, you haven’t…or, and this is what I’m going to guess is what really happened, you have asked her and she wants nothing to do with you.”
“She’ll come around,” Cross said hotly. He couldn’t help but counter his father’s claim. Rory wasn’t fully on board yet. She would come around soon enough. If he left now, she would never have the chance to make the right decision.
Grizzly shook his head. “You’re making a bad choice here, son. I don’t want to banish you, but I will. No good can come of you going back there.”
“We only get one mate,” Cross held up one finger in his father’s face. “One! If I let her go, I will be alone forever.”
Grizzly was about to say something else but stopped. They all looked around, suddenly alert. Cross’ wolf started to go wild.
He put on his helmet and headed back to the cabin as fast as his bike would take him.
Six
Rory went to sit between her mother and Jamie on the couch. As she neared, she could feel one of her protection casts snap like a twig.
“Someone…” she began to say, but Magda cut her off.
“We’re already casting new spells. You need to hide.”
The fear in her mother’s eyes made her look around without questioning the command. She had no idea where she was going to hide in the cabin since it had no basement or cellar. Her only option would be one of the closets. She went to the coat closet and shut herself inside. It wasn’t a good hiding place at all, really it was an exercise in futility. There was no way she could hide from a magical being. Magda knew that, Jamie knew that, and so did she.
There was total silence in the cabin as Magda and Jamie, she assumed, were both casting defensive spells. The front door was flung open hard enough to hit the closet she was in. She tensed waiting to hear who or what was coming for her.
“There’s a vampire headed straight this way!” It was Cross. Rory came out of the closet and fell into his arms involuntarily. In a moment of crisis, he was invaluable. When they had fought the Sun Riders in Cleary, having Cross next to her had significantly increased her castings. That was before she had accepted his claim. If there was a vamp coming for her, she could really use stronger magic.
“I’m glad you got back!” she told him, resisting the urge to kiss him hello.
Grizzly ran into the cabin breathing hard. “It’s Violet Moore.”
“Sweet Goddess,” Jamie said, exchanging a look with Magda.
“Where’s Grimace?” Cross asked, not letting Rory go.
“He stayed back to slow her down,” Grizzly said, and shot Cross a dangerous look. There was something going on between them Rory could see and she imagined it was her fault. There was nothing else Cross could have done to annoy his father.
“You two need to leave now!” Magda said, pushing Cross and Rory toward the front door. “Go now! He won’t be able to hold her for more than a second.”
“Who’s Violet Moore?” Rory asked. She knew Sven Summers was Olaf’s second-in-command, and his brother and Melody Jobs were Olaf’s third-in-command, if that was a thing. He had sired Melody himself. That was about as much as Rory knew about the vampire organization. There was no need to know anyone else. They never had contact with vampires. The vampires stayed in their territories and witches left them alone. That had been the agreement for centuries.
“Violet is Melody’s progeny,” Magda told her, still shoving them. “Leave now!”
“Where are we going to go?!” Rory asked.
“He’ll know somewhere,” Magda said, motioning toward Cross.
“Get out of here,” Grizzly told them.
Rory was frightened. She knew vampires were powerful, but she thought they would at least put up a fight. The three were acting like they were about to fight to the death.
“I’m not going,” Rory said, resisting her mother’s hard pushes.
“You were so happy to leave before.” Magda’s eyes were wild with fear. “If you want to help, then go!”
Cross pulled on her arm and looked out the open door. “Come on. We can get a few seconds head start on her.”
“What’s the point?” Rory shook off his arm. “She can move faster than we can visually perceive. I don’t think we’re going to be able to out run her on a motorcycle.”
“Well, we can’t just sit here and wait for her!” Cross said, frustrated.
“Then we can fight her!” Rory said, looking at each of them in turn. “There are three witches and two werewolves in this room. I think we can put up some kind of fight at least.”
“You haven’t ever seen a vamp in action I take it, baby girl?” Grizzly asked.
“Of course she hasn’t,” Magda snapped. She grabbed Rory by the shoulders. “We are going to put up a fight. But if you aren’t here, she’ll be distracted with having to find you.”
“Please,” Cross added to the room’s plea. That was enough for Rory. If he was asking her nicely, it was a lot more serious than she had thought.
She grabbed her helmet off the table by the door.
“We’ll come right back when it’s safe,” she said, hugging Magda.
“Just go!” Magda was clearly relieved. Cross pulled Rory to his bike so fast she had to run to keep up. He had the bike moving the minute her hands touched his waist. The quick movement almost made her fall off the bike, but she grabbed him even tighter.
As they sped away from the cabin further into the moun
tain, she looked back over her shoulder. She could see two figures on the road in front of the cabin as a wolf prowled around them. She could feel more magic washing over her, more magic than Jamie and Magda could conjure on their own. Ursula, Deanne, and Sarah must have been helping. They must have felt their casting break and knew something was wrong.
She couldn’t see the vampire yet, but she hoped Grimace was ok. She didn’t know him at all beyond seeing him at Jamie’s house when the Moon Brothers came. Still, he was Cross’ brother and she was fighting to help her. She didn’t know who Violet Moore was, but if she was Melody’s progeny, she must be a powerful vampire. If anything happened to anyone who was trying to protect her she would feel guilty for the rest of her life. She had wanted to stay and fight too. At least that way, if things went sideways, she could have given herself up to Violet. She prayed they would all be ok.
***
He didn’t know where he was going, but he was going to drive like a bat out of hell until he got there. Cross’ Harley was a cruiser and wasn’t going to get high speeds like a crotch rocket would, let alone with the extra weight of Rory. Still, that didn’t stop him from pushing it up to 110 mph. He needed to get Rory as far away from Violet as he could. Rory may not have been familiar with the baby vamp, but he was.
He had only seen the vampire once during a werewolf party when he was a teenager. Her and a few other vamps had been invited by the guy who was throwing the party while his parents were on vacation. He could see why she was invited immediately. He didn’t know how old she actually was, but she looked sixteen, seventeen tops. She was tall with long limbs, small curves, and deep black skin. She had a buzz cut, but that only made her delicate features more striking. She looked like a supermodel.
Violet hadn’t done anything unusual during the party. But when he asked around about her, he found out she was a bloodthirsty killer. None of it was substantiated but there were rumors of her killing truckers at rest stops just for fun. In the old days, that kind of play would have been no big deal. The vampire king forbade that kind of behavior in his territory. If all the vamps started doing it, they would start to draw the suspicion of humans. She let the rumors run rampant without even attempting to correct them. It was enough to convince him Violet wasn’t someone he wanted to run into any night.